Fiduciary Management Inc. WI Makes New Investment in Mueller Water Products $MWA

Fiduciary Management Inc. WI purchased a new position in shares of Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund purchased 3,165,392 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $75,400,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. raised its position in shares of Mueller Water Products by 62.3% during the 3rd quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. now owns 930,230 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $23,739,000 after buying an additional 357,087 shares in the last quarter. Aberdeen Group plc raised its position in shares of Mueller Water Products by 12.9% during the 3rd quarter. Aberdeen Group plc now owns 735,269 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $18,632,000 after buying an additional 83,965 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its position in shares of Mueller Water Products by 998.6% during the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 387,050 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $9,220,000 after buying an additional 351,819 shares in the last quarter. Perpetual Ltd raised its position in shares of Mueller Water Products by 10.2% during the 4th quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 429,580 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $10,233,000 after buying an additional 39,656 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fox Run Management L.L.C. bought a new stake in shares of Mueller Water Products during the 3rd quarter worth about $1,781,000. 91.68% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Mueller Water Products from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Mueller Water Products in a research note on Tuesday, May 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $29.00 price objective on shares of Mueller Water Products in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $32.00 price objective (up from $30.00) on shares of Mueller Water Products in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $31.25.

Mueller Water Products Stock Performance

Shares of MWA opened at $25.34 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $27.03 and its 200-day moving average is $26.69. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.34, a P/E/G ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 4.57 and a quick ratio of 2.92. Mueller Water Products has a 12-month low of $22.74 and a 12-month high of $31.00.

Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 21st. The industrial products company reported $2.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The company had revenue of $1.19 billion for the quarter. Mueller Water Products had a net margin of 14.17% and a return on equity of 22.11%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Mueller Water Products will post 1.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mueller Water Products Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 20th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 11th were given a $0.07 dividend. This represents a $0.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 11th. Mueller Water Products’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 21.37%.

Insider Activity at Mueller Water Products

In other news, Director Brian C. Healy bought 1,166 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $25.75 per share, with a total value of $30,024.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 23,763 shares in the company, valued at approximately $611,897.25. The trade was a 5.16% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Todd P. Helms sold 10,720 shares of Mueller Water Products stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.61, for a total transaction of $295,979.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 64,477 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,780,209.97. This trade represents a 14.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Mueller Water Products Profile

Mueller Water Products, Inc is a leading provider of water infrastructure and flow control products and services designed to help water utilities and municipalities manage, control and measure their water distribution systems. The company’s portfolio includes a comprehensive range of products such as fire hydrants, valves, pipe repair systems, fittings and couplings, along with advanced metering and monitoring solutions. By combining traditional mechanical components with digital technologies, Mueller Water Products addresses the critical need for reliable and sustainable water distribution across North America.

The company’s operations are organized around two primary business segments.